Toy Story 3: Baby's Story
by betawho
Summary: This is written as a full length feature film complete with footnotes and a mini-story for the end credits. The toys find an abandoned baby doll and try to keep her hidden while Buzz and Woody search for her family. But she's a really BIG baby.


**TOY STORY 3**

In the vast, dark reaches of space, past stars and pulsars, past nebula (i) and asteroid fields streaks a long cometary trail of ... popcorn?

Popcorn tumbles through the abyss, soda cups with globs of soda floating free, corn dog sticks, peanut shells, and cotton candy cones waving pale streamers of candy. And ahead, floats the comet trailing this tail of debris, a tiny island. With bleachers on it.

Sound rises to fill the silence of space, faint at first, the mumbled rumble of a hundred excited voices, the stomping of feet and clapping of hands. Until....

"Welcome spacefriends to the first ever All Space Rodeo!" the announcer's voice (ii) booms out over the rodeo arena. "First up today in our bronco riding competition is Jessie! Let's hear it for Jessie everyone!"

Alien hoots, whistles and clicks, the stomping of boots and the squish of tentacles herald the first event.

Jessie burst out of the chute riding a giant monster alien pig, purple scaled and tusked like a warthog. The crowd of aliens went wild, hollering and hooting, clicking and clapping as their species dictated.

Jessie waved her cowboy hat in the air as she held onto the bronc strap. The pig bucked and hopped and twirled trying to unseat her but Jessie held on like glue. The rodeo announcer's voice counted off the seconds as Jessie busted that bronc.

Suddenly a huge shadow fell over the arena. Everyone looked up, aliens and their babies, cotton candy carrying little blobs with tentacles, and blocky stone-looking little spectators in cowboy hats. Three pudgy little green aliens pointed up at the sky. "The claw!" they said in unison.

A huge mechanical claw stabbed down out of the sky, snapping for Jessie. Jessie dodged and looked up to see a huge blue and red robot, red eyes flashing, backlit by the stars that held this floating space rodeo. It leaned forward and rammed its claw down again, shaking the arena and sending huge gouts of dirt and dust flying into the air.

Everyone screamed. Pandemonium reigned as aliens, cowboys, spacemen, hot-dog vendors and alien rodeo clowns scattered in all directions.

Inside the arena Jessie ducked and dodged as the clanking claw slammed down at her, gouging up huge plumes of dirt and shaking the ground with each impact. It came at her again, too close! With a desperate "Yee-Hah!" she spurred her porcine mount in a spectacular jump through the circle of the giant's claw. The metallic boom as the claw slammed shut was drowned out by an amplified voice.

"Hang on Jessie, I'm coming!"

The thunder of retro burners couldn't drown out the cheer. A child's chitinous arm rose to point up into the sky. "It's Buzz Lightyear!"

Jessie swerved her thudding pig around in a circle as Buzz Lightyear, armored space ranger, swooped down into the arena and placed himself directly in front of the huge monster robot. Buzz hovered defiantly, hands on his hips, afterburners flaming at his heels.

"Cease and desist this activity at once!" He yelled, holding up an imperious, official hand. The robot took a swipe at him. Buzz dodged neatly, weaving in the air in front of him.

The giant robot swung a house-sized claw and snatched him out of the air, its hydraulic muscles squeezing on Buzz's spacesuit as if it was cracking a snail's shell. Buzz's face turned red and his voice grew hoarse as the pressure increased. His arms were trapped to his sides. "I warn you, if you persist in this activity, then, by order of Star Command I will be forced to..."

"I don't think he's listening, Buzz," another familiar voice yelled out.

"Woody!" Buzz yelled in relief. A lasso looped up around the giant's claw. Buzz looked down to see Woody, mounted on Bullseye in the arena below, wrap his lasso around his saddlehorn and back up.

"Come on, Bullseye. Let's toss this bull!"

Bullseye gamely backed up, pulling the rope tight and pulling the robot down and forward. But the struggle was unequal. The robot pulled back and Bullseye slipped, sliding forward, his hooves lifted up on tiptoe as the robot raised his arm.

Then suddenly, with a "Yee-Haa!", Jessie yanked her own lasso tight around the robot's ankle, the monster toppled forward and ...

"Lunch!"

Andy dropped his toy robot, Buzz Lightyear dropped beside it where he'd been held onto the robot's claw. Woody and Bullseye toppled from his other hand. And Molly jumped up from where she'd been balancing Jessie atop the piggy bank.

"Andy! Molly! Lunchtime!" Their mother yelled from the back door.

"All right!" Andy yelled. "Race ya!" He took off running, his three year old sister gamely toddling behind. "Come on, Buster!" Andy yelled over his shoulder as his rambunctious puppy burst out of the bushes and charged, barking, after them.

In the backyard, by the hedgerow, the toys lay were they'd been dropped, listening. The screen door slammed shut.

Cautiously, Woody raised his head and looked. "All clear!"

Ham immediately sat up and groaned. "I was never intended to be a circus animal!"

"Rodeo," Woody corrected automatically, straightening his hat.

"You were a very good bronco, Ham," Jessie said as she stood up dusting herself off.

"If you ask me he looked like an idiot," said Mr. Potatohead, pulling an eye out of his leg socket (iii) and replacing it on his face.

"I think the space rodeo was fun!" Rex said enthusiastically.

"And you were a great monster," Buzz congratulated the robot as he helped him back up onto his treads.

"Thank you," the robot beeped.

"You were magnificent, Woody," Bo-Peep said in her best southern belle voice as she sauntered up and grabbed onto Woody's enlarged arm and leaned into him.

Jessie and Buzz shared a grin at his blush.

"What's that noise?" Mrs. Potatohead asked as she came forward out of the bushes, plucking leaves from her accessories.

Everyone stopped and listened. Then they heard it, a high, thin wail.

"Where's that coming from?" Woody asked, looking around, trying to orient on the sound.

"Through here!" Buzz and Jessie plunged into the tangle of bushes. Everyone followed.

They emerged in the alleyway behind the house, trash cans lined the gravel road and high bushes concealed the animated toys from prying eyes.

"Oh no!" Bo-Peep's eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth. All the females rushed forward, Rex right behind them.

Right in the middle of the alley, on a hummock of grass, lay a lost, abandoned baby doll. It was crying.

"Ooh there, it's all right little one," Bo-Peep crooned. The "little one" was a diaper-wearing baby doll bigger than all of them.

"I wonder where her owner is?" Rex asked, turning in a circle, scanning the empty alley.

Buzz stood with his hands on his hips surveying this tragedy as the women oohed and aahed over the baby.

"This doesn't look good, Buzz," Woody said from beside him as he completed his own survey of the abandoned alleyway.

"Too right, this doesn't look good!" Mr. Potatohead groused. "Just look at them. She'll be wanting me to adopt that next!"

"Uh..." Buzz said in perplexity, looking at Woody as they both suddenly realized what was about to happen.

"Uhm.., Ladies..." Woody said timidly, stepping forward.

"Oh, Woody!" Bo-Peep said in a tragic sort of voice. "Who could be so cruel as to leave a poor little baby doll out in an alley like this? She's brand new!" (v v) (Said in tones of, "She's just a baby!")

Woody, seeing the floor cut out from beneath his feet by that remark, turned to Buzz for help.

"Perhaps we'd better leave," Buzz said, stepping bravely into the breach. "Her owner could return at any minute."

"I don't think so, Buzz," Jessie said in a practical, considering voice from where she stood by the baby's head stroking its hair. "Look at her. She's dirty and scratched," she looked down at the woebegone face that was looking up at her. "I think she's been abandoned."

Buzz and Woody both understood the death knell in that statement. They both understood how Jessie felt about an abandoned toy. She'd been abandoned herself.

"Well, we can't very well leave her here lying in the alley," Mrs. Potatohead said in her grating, managing voice.

"Whoa, whoa, now hold on a minute," Woody said waving his arms. "We can't just take a strange toy into Andy's room. Someone will notice."

"We'll keep her hidden," Mrs. Potatohead replied, determined.

"Besides, how would we get her up there?" Mr. Potatohead protested.

It was the dark of night, only the stars and the indirect light of the yard lights illuminated the side of the house.

"Just a little lower!" Buzz yelled up to the window above as a makeshift rope of extension cords, jump ropes and plastic monkeys dangled down the side of the house.

At his side Bo-Peep reached up with her crook trying to snag the end of the rope, but it was still too far out of reach. Baby, kicking her feet as she lay on her back in an improvised hammock made of a butterfly net, gurgled happily and waved her arms.

Inside the bedroom window, on the table, Woody and Jessie finished tying their lassos, gleaned from the discarded yo-yo's behind them, to the end of the rope. "It's a good thing Andy is spending the weekend at his grandmother's," Woody said as they lowered the extended rope out the window.

"I still don't know about this, Woody," Ham said in his slow, nervous voice as he looked down over the windowsill checking on the progress below.

Behind Woody, Rex held onto the rope with his scrawny arms, ready to help pull. "But we just couldn't leave her out in the alley!" he said.

Behind him Mr. Potatohead and his three adopted alien sons also held the rope. "There's no use arguing with the ladies once their minds are made up," he said with an aggrieved sigh, looking behind him at his three adoring "sons" with resignation. Behind them the rope trailed off down the table to the floor where strongman, robot, and the rest of the toys were lined up like slaves at the pyramids, all ready to haul.

There was a sharp double tug on the rope and Ham waved at everyone. "All right they're ready."

"Okay everyone, Heave!" Woody called.

Outside at the base of the house the butterfly net (v) began to rise. Buzz jumped up on the handle and Bo perched on the opposite rim. Both of them bumped them out from the wall, Bo using her crook, to keep them from getting caught on the siding. Slowly they rose up the side of the house.

Baby squealed and chortled with joy at this strange new game. Wiggling in her net hammock, she kicked with extra vigor and her bare foot caught Bo on the side and knocked her off balance.

"Bo!" Buzz yelled.

"What!" Woody froze when he heard the shout. "What's going on!" He didn't dare let go of the rope to go to the windowsill and see.

"Baby kicked Bo off the net!" Ham reported in distress.

"Bo, hang on, don't move!" Buzz tightwalked along the edge of the net to where Bo was dangling, held up only by her crook which had gotten caught in the webbing. He had to dodge Baby's flailing arms and feet as the infant continued to scream her glee.

He threw himself belly down in the net and grabbed Bo's crook, hauling it slowly upwards as Baby continued to kick him unheedingly in the back. He almost had Bo high enough when one of Baby's kicks shoved his chest into the rim of the net, hitting one of his buttons. His wings popped out, ripping the net, clipping Baby in the ankle and almost causing him to drop Bo.

"Oh no!" Ham cried.

"What! What is it!" Woody asked desperately as he strained at the rope to keep it from falling.

"Why is Baby crying?" Jessie demanded, right behind him, her cowboy boots also dug into the tabletop as she pulled on the rope.

Buzz managed to pull Bo inelegantly up onto the side of the net. She hung there, draped on her stomach, the nauseating sound of the net slowly ripping filling her ears. Buzz dove down into the hollow and grabbed the two halves of the net, straining, Bo muttering disheveled encouragement from above him, and with a Herculean effort he managed to pull the two halves of the net together, locking them together in one gauntlented fist.

"Pull!" Ham waved a hoof frantically. "Before anything else happens!"

Everyone dug in, from Robot at the end of the line on the floor, all the way up through Rex, Jessie and Woody. Slowly Buzz's head rose up over the windowsill.

Together everyone heaved and hauled and pulled the net up over the windowsill and onto the table inside. As soon as the net collapsed around her, Baby rolled over and looked up at all the toys. Even crawling she was as tall as the tallest toy there. She made a grab for Mr. Potatohead's mustache, knocking it askew. Mrs. Potatohead laughed at the child's delightful antics. Mr. Potatohead snatched his mustache back, muttering, and Baby set off in another direction.

She caught sight of Rex and squealed in delight, grabbing for him with chubby little baby fingers. The dinosaur backed up, waving his stubby arms at her to defend himself and tumbled off the edge of the table onto the bed. Baby immediately followed, chortling all the way down as she tumbled end over end onto Andy's bedspread.

"We'd better get her down to the ground before she falls," exclaimed Mrs. Potatohead.

Woody and Jessie immediately mounted up on Bullseye and galloped down off the table, onto the bed, skirting Baby, and jumped down to the floor. They dismounted, ran over and grabbed up the hem of Andy's bedspread, forming an airplane emergency ramp between them.

"Okay Buzz. Herd her this way!" Woody yelled.

Slinky dog and Buzz surrounded Baby on two sides, Slink stretched out to surround as much as possible, and slowly they herded Baby toward the edge of the bed. Baby stared in wide eyed amazement at the stretched out dog and made a grab at him just as her back leg slid over the edge of the bed, and she slid, top over tail down the slide. Slink yelled, Baby squealed, Buzz cautioned. And by the time Baby landed at the bottom on her diapered rear end she had Slink wrapped around her like Christmas tree tinsel.

Slink's front end, tongue lolling dizzily, bobbed over her left eyebrow like the feathers on a flapper's headband.

Suddenly, from outside the door, "Molly, you come back here! You're not done with your bath yet!" A shrieking, little girl giggle was followed by the sound of running baby footsteps in the hallway.

The door began to open. The toys scrambled for their positions.

"Quick! Get her under the bed!" Woody yelled in a whisper. He, Jessie and Bo quickly dragged the doll under the bed. Bullseye pulled the blanket down with his teeth to curtain them, then crouched and stuck his nose out underneath, his rump wiggling in the air, to see what was happening.

Woody held his hand over Baby's mouth as she giggled and batted at Slink's head, which was bobbing in her face.

"You naughty girl!" Adult footsteps thundered down the hallway as Mom caught Molly by the partially opened door. "Come on, let's get you ready for bed." She reached out and casually closed the door, without bothering to look inside.

Everyone relaxed with a great whoosh of breath. Slink melted down off Baby's head in an excess of relief. And as everyone was making sure he was all right Baby crawled out onto the floor.

"That was close," Buzz said from his stance by the leg of the table.

"Mrrow..."

Everyone's attention snapped to the top of the table. A cute, haughty little kitten, wide-faced, with smoky blue-grey fur, sat on the tabletop casually cleaning herself with one paw.

"So, it was you who opened the door," Buzz said.

"You gave us a scare!" Rex exclaimed.

"Muffin," Woody began to admonish as the kitten jumped languidly down from the table to the bed to the floor. "you could have given us away. You're going to have to stay out of here for a while. Until we find Baby's family."

The kitten blatantly ignored him. It circled around Baby sizing her up, making the doll twist around to follow her.

"I don't like this, Woody," Ham said, watching the kitten suspiciously. "If she gets it into her head that Molly would like that doll she'll cause trouble. We all know Muffin's only loyalty is to Molly."

"And, at all costs, Molly must not be allowed to find Baby," Buzz said in his portentous voice.

"Yeah, just look at all the trouble that got caused when Mom found Jessie and Bullseye!" Rex said.

"Rex!" Ham poked him in the side, nodding at Jessie.

"Oops! Sorry."

"Rex is right," Slinky said as he came out from under the bed. "We got lucky with Jessie. But if Molly finds Baby she'll never give her up. And somewhere out there is a family that's missing her!"

"Right!" Buzz said, he jumped up on the bed. He turned to Woody. "Then that's our job! We'll scour the neighborhood until we find Baby's family!"

The toys all cheered.

Muffin purred and rubbed herself over Baby. The doll's eyes went wide "Oooh!"

It was morning, Buzz, Woody and Ham were up on the table by the window, Buzz and Woody were getting ready to leave to search for Baby's family.

Down below, the toys were just starting their day. Bo was straightening the baby blanket on the floor where Baby had slept. Rex was stretching his scrawny arms and yawning, he suddenly straightened with a yelp as Baby grabbed his tail. Protesting all the while, and frightened since the baby doll was bigger than he was, he jerked away and took off in his lumbering stride, trying to outrun the rampaging infant.

Chortling with glee, Baby crawled after him. Together they stormed right through the army men's morning calisthenics like Godzilla and Rodan trashing Tokyo, scattering indignant toy soldiers left and right.

"No Baby. Bad girl!" Mrs. Potatohead chased after them on her short little accessory feet. "Leave the nasty lizard alone!" she chided as Baby caught up with Rex and grabbed his tail. Rex screamed, waving his arms in terror as the toothless baby started chewing on his tail. "No. Bad baby!" Mrs. Potatohead pried Rex's tail out of the baby's mouth. "You don't know where that's been!" She shook her finger at the wide eyed, blinking baby and dragged her off away from the scene of the carnage.

Rex immediately swung around to anxiously show his tail to the troll doll. "Tell me," he said, head craned around. "How bad is it?" The mute doll looked down at his big green tail under his nose and shrugged helplessly.

"Hey, at least she doesn't drool!" Mr. Potatohead said as he clumped past.

He stumped on past the pair to the bottom of the window table. "You two about to leave?" he yelled up at the conference going on above him. Buzz's head appeared over the edge of the table.

"As soon as we've devised a plan of reconnaissance we will depart."

"Good. The sooner we get rid of Two Ton Tessie the better." Behind him on the other side of the room Jessie and Mrs. Potatohead were trying to entertain Baby with a string game. Jessie held up the complex cradle of string with her arms and stepped on one of the strings resulting in a new pattern. Baby got bored and crawled away, right over the top of the string mosaic, tangling Jessie and Mrs. Potatohead in the strands.

While everyone ran to help Jessie and Mrs. Potatohead extricate themselves, no one was minding the baby. Curious, Baby wandered around the bedroom, she poked into corners and peered under bookcases, finding nothing interesting. Then she noticed a door, slightly ajar. Curious, she crawled over to have a look.

All she could see through the thin crack was a sliver of black. She reached out to pull the door wider.

Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead turned and saw her. "NO! DONT!" They yelled in unison, running forward. Baby looked back just as the door swung all the way open.

All the toys saw what was happening at once. There was a collective horrified gasp as everything went into disastrous slow motion.

"Closetlanche!" Woody yelled from atop the table just as a huge pile of junk loomed out of the closet like a tidal wave. Toys yelled and screamed, running for cover. Slinky dog gallumped in spring-arching slow motion away from the onrushing wave. Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead stared upward in horror even as they rushed forward. Jessie spun around, her hat tilting upward as the tidal wave broke and what seemed like hundreds of tons of junk came rumbling down into the room.

Boxes tumbled like boulders over themselves as they avalanched out of the overstuffed closet. Toys, games, and sports equipment bounced down the incline like broken houses, hangers tumbled through the mash, sticking up like uprooted trees, and clothes slithered across the whole like overturned topsoil.

The debris swept the shrieking baby up like so much flotsam. The onrushing tide swept over Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead even as they tried to outrun it. Toys scrambled away in all directions, running for safety, as the rumbling cascade finally came to a drunken, tumbling halt.

"Baby!" Jessie shouted. Without waiting for assistance, Jessie immediately swarmed up the pile, her long, lanky arms and legs pumping like a spider as she climbed and dug her way to the top searching for the baby doll.

Buzz was next on the scene, shouting out for Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead as he used his armor enhanced body to climb and shift debris, looking in the most likely spots where the spud couple would be buried.

Woody stood atop the table directing the rescue efforts, warning the other toys to stay back and ordering the toy soldiers to set up a cordon around the edge of the spill.

At last, after all her frantic calling and digging, Jessie discovered Baby right on the very top of the heap. The doll was grinning fit to bust the band, obviously having a fine time and untouched except for the Buzz Lightyear pajama top that had drifted down over her head. With a whoop of relief Jessie waved her hat at Woody, signaling that she'd found Baby and that she was all right.

Woody waved back and shouted at the soldiers and strongman, getting them to set up a rescue receival party as Jessie tied her lasso around Baby's middle and gently lowered the baby down the slope of the hill.

"Ooh! I'm a mashed potato." The groaning sound of Mr. Potatohead's voice helped Buzz zero in on his location. He jumped back down part of the slope and heaved aside a huge empty box that covered a hole in the side of the hill. Mr. Potatohead was trapped at the bottom.

"Hold on there, friend. We'll have you out of there in no time. Woody!" Buzz signaled to the cowboy that he needed help to dig Mr. Potatohead out and Woody immediately started clambering down the table. (2)

"Ooh!" came Mrs. Potatohead's high, shrill voice not far away, also muffled under the debris. "Is the baby all right?" she demanded, even as Buzz dug away a pile of socks and an old plastic Woody gunbelt. She looked up, squinting into the light. "Did you get the baby out okay?" she asked, even as it became apparent that she was wedged in tightly under a half crumpled Monopoly box.

"She's all right," Buzz assured her, even as he and Woody began a hand to hand relay of debris down the slopes of the hill, passing debris from toy to toy, from soldier to sheep to squeaktoy as he and Woody dug the two spuds out.

"That's a baby. That's a good girl," Ma Potatohead crooned as she and Bo-Peep, working together like they were making a bed, draped Andy's old neckerchief up and tied it on each side. Baby's old diaper lay discarded, in shreds, to the side. "Well, she may not wet but she sure is hard on diapers," Mrs. Potatohead said as she picked up the old diaper in a long outstretched arm and went to put it in the wastebasket.

The giant baby rolled over and sat up. "I hope Buzz and Woody are able to find her family," Bo said, glancing worriedly up at the window where Ham stood watch.

Baby reached out with gentle, careful fingers and tugged on Bo's hat, running her fingers over the edge curiously and trying to peer below the bonnet.

"No, no, Baby," Bo chided gently, holding her hat down with one hand as it threatened to come off in the baby's grip. "That's Bo's bonnet. Here," she turned and picked up a rubber superbouncy ball that was in a pile behind her, the last of the toys left over from the closetlanche. Behind her, Jessie and Strongman were just managing to latch the closet door shut after the last of the cleanup. (ii) Bo handed the ball to baby. Baby took it and promptly tried to put it in her mouth. The ball was too big. With a yell of indignation the baby threw the ball. It hit the floor and bounced with impressive force, rebounded off the wall, where a picture tilted but failed to fall, hit a lamp which wobbled precariously, making Rex, who was under it, yell and hold his hands up to try to cover his head.

The ball bumped off the leg of the bed, most of its energy spent, and rolled forward, right under the unsuspecting legs of Bullseye. Not seeing the ball coming up behind him, Bullseye continued backing up, dragging a backpack in his teeth to the closet. With the ball directly under his legs, Bullseye slipped, tried to recover, and slipped again like a Keystone Cop on a bed of marbles. He floundered, legs flying and tangling everywhere, until he dropped, abruptly, right down on top of the ball. The bouncy ball popped and shot out from underneath him like a bar of soap. It flew straight back over Bo's head and hit Baby right between the eyes.

The toys all held their breaths in horror, waiting for the child to break out in shrieks. Baby stared, stunned for a moment. Then the wobbling, spent path of the ball caught her attention, and chortling madly she crawled quickly after it, caught it and sent it flying again.

"Incoming!" Mr. Potatohead yelled, as the ricocheting ball flew over his head like a bullet. All the toys, realizing the danger, and what the day was about to hold, dived for cover.

Mr. Potatohead and Ham cowered behind a box. Mr. Potatohead stared out the window at the sunshiney neighborhood. "I hope Buzz and Woody are having better luck than we are."

Buzz tapped on a window, the macaw in the cage inside turned and squawked at him ruffling its feathers and flapping its wings aggressively. A GI Joe slid up the window a crack and shushed the bird frantically.

"Are you missing a baby doll?" Buzz asked.

Woody climbed up the rose trellis to the second floor window and tapped on the glass. A large, purple haired troll doll laying inside shooed him away with the fingers of one hand. Woody swung sideways back into the trellis, among the flowers, just before a little girl opened the window and looked around. Woody cringed among the flowers, but the girl didn't see him and left the room saying excitedly, "Mom, a bird was pecking on my window!"

Buzz sprinted across the yard and dove between the slats of the white picket fence, barely escaping the jaws of the barking rottweiler chasing him.

"No, no one missing here." A teddy bear shook its head from the first floor window.

"No," Said a hula girl lamp in the entrance way, peering down at the toy half crawled inside the open dog door.

"No."

"No."

"Sorry."

Buzz and Woody sighed in their two separate yards and headed home.

The bedroom was in a shambles, it was reminiscent of the bombing of London during World War II. Rubble, craters, and the rubber, bouncy ball equivalent of bullet holes riddled the room.

Toys huddled behind barricades and scrambled through the wreckage. (3)

Again the sound of the dreaded, ricochet fire.

"Right this way..." Jessie encouraged as she listened from behind an overturned book. "There!" She jumped up, thrust her cowboy hat in the air, and caught the ball! The force whirled her around like she'd caught a cannonball. "Yeee Ha!" She yelled in triumph as she brandished the ball-stuffed hat.

Baby came crawling toward her like a tank on a mission.

"Oh no you don't." Cuddling the bouncy ball under her arm like a quarterback driving the line, Jessie rushed forward and hopped up over Baby's head onto her back, down over her rear end and away before the baby could react.

"Here, hide this!" She quickly handed off the ball to Mr. Potatohead before Baby could turn to see.

"Too right!"

"Now girlie," Jessie said as she turned to face the advancing baby. "I think it's time you stayed put for a while." With a piercing, two-fingered whistle, Jessie called Bullseye. The simple-minded horse galloped up in its boneless fashion and Jessie jumped up on the saddle, riding him like a skateboard.

"Yee Ha! Let's round 'em up, Bullseye!" Together they galloped around the baby, herding her in a circle back to her baby blanket. The baby got dizzy trying to follow them in a circle and plomped down on her rear end. "Look at this little missy!" Jessie yelled as she suddenly flipped over and did a handstand in the saddle. Baby squealed and clapped her hands.

"Thank goodness!" Ham exclaimed, as he and the rest of the toys gathered in a huddle at the corner of the room, all of them watching Jessie and the Baby. Jessie swung over from Bullseye onto the back of Baby's neck, riding her and waving her hat in the air, Baby grinned and pranced like a horse. Bo and Mrs. Potatohead scowled and shook their heads disapprovingly.

"Who would ever have thought that one little baby could be so much trouble!" Slink exclaimed.

"Little!" Mr. Potatohead snorted. "She's bigger than lizard brain here!"

"She's bigger than all of us!" Rex exclaimed with a worried wringing of hands.

"Well, big or not, she's still just a baby. We're simply going to have to keep her away from anything dangerous," Mrs. Potatohead said, keeping a judicious eye on the cowgirl and the baby.

All the male toys looked around the room incredulously. The only thing in the room that wasn't wrecked was the baby.

"Dangerous!" Ham snorted. "The only thing around here that's dangerous is her!"

Molly padded through the hallway, giggling and stooping. Inside the bedroom, Buzz and Woody had just returned. They'd barely climbed in the window when the toys had to scramble for their positions. Just as Rex took up his position, the last one, the door creaked open and Muffin padded in, curling around the edge of the door. Baby, who was behind the door, saw the kitten and reached eagerly for her friend. Woody and Buzz hissed with dismay as Molly toddled in right behind the cat.

Baby kept crawling toward the kitten. The two girls, one real, one a toy, were separated only by the flimsy barrier of the door. Woody, out of sight of Molly under the edge of the bed, hissed and waved his hat at Baby, trying to get her to hide.

Muffin, leading Molly, sauntered around the room as if she owned it, making a circuit around the edges of the walls as if she was inspecting all the fear-frozen toys, Molly toddled close behind her, reaching out to catch her, but never quite managing it.

Buzz had also been trying to shoo Baby back out of sight, the doll was so new she didn't even have the sense to freeze when a human was near. Buzz squinched his eyes shut when Muffin's route took her back toward the door. But just when all the toys were breathless with terror, knowing there was no way Molly could avoid seeing Baby. Baby froze. Thank god she had the instinct to freeze when looked at, but of course, it was at the worse possible moment. She was right in plain sight. Then, miraculously, the door slowly creaked farther open, hiding the doll.

Muffin, smirking, sauntered regally out into the corridor, trailing the giggling three year old behind her.

Jessie checked the hallway through the crack in the hinge side of the door, and seeing no one, she eased up her grip on her lasso, which was hooked around the doorknob, and slowly, carefully, pushed the door shut.

Once the latch clicked shut all the other toys pounced on her with relief. Ma Potatohead began shaking her finger at Baby and scolding.

"Quick thinking, cowgirl!" Buzz congratulated as Jessie unloosed her lasso and coiled it back up.

"Whew! I don't ever want to go through that again!" Ham puffed in relief.

"I swear Muffin does that just to give me battery failure," Mr. Potatohead exclaimed.

"But you don't have batteries," Rex said.

"We're going to have to teach Baby to hide, and to freeze when people are around," Bo replied. Her sheep nodded.

"At least she's got enough instinct to freeze whenever someone looks right at her," Slink said.

"Yeah," Mr. Potatohead said. "But by that time it's too late! If Molly had seen her...!" He let the possibility trail off in horror.

"Well, she didn't, thanks to Jessie. I think we'd better redouble our efforts to find her family," Buzz said.

"That'll mean going farther afield. We've already checked all the houses nearby," Woody reminded him.

"I think I'll take another look at that alleyway. Perhaps there's some clue we overlooked," Buzz said rubbing his chin.

Woody settled his hat down harder on his head. "I'll recheck with all the yard gnomes and flamingos. Maybe one of them saw something."

"And I'll put out an ad out on the internet!" Rex said excitedly. "That'll widen the search even more!"

"Good idea dinosaur!" Buzz clipped him on the shoulder. "The more toys we have searching the better!"

"Who knows," Bo said in her soft, southern belle voice. "Maybe her family will see it."

The next day, Ham kept a lookout for Buzz and Woody at the window, Rex, Slink and Robot were playing Sorry in the corner, and Ma Potatohead and Bo were consulting with Strongman beside the bookshelves, wondering if there was some way they could turn one of the plastic milk crates on its side and make a hidden bed for Baby.

Jessie was the only one keeping an eye on Baby, but since Baby was asleep on her blanket, everything was peaceful for the moment. Jessie sat on the edge of the bed her feet dangling off the side swinging idly as she toyed with her lasso. Bullseye was curled up on the comforter behind her like a sleeping puppy. From out in the hallway came the sound of a lulliby playing softly in Molly's room. The door edged open silently. No one noticed Muffin peek in then slip silently into the room. The kitten padded over and curled around the baby, purring softly, waking her surreptitiously and trying to entice her out of the room.

Buster slipped his nose in the door and saw what the cat was doing. All hell exploded when the dog burst into the room. He knocked the door open in his ardor and made a beeline for the cat. Muffin jumped up, hissing and screeching, back arched and claws out at the barking puppy.

Buster jumped forward, the cat jumped back, and the chase began. Barking, hissing, screeching the two streaked around the room, over the furniture, bouncing off the walls and knocking things over.

All the toys tried desperately to shut them up. But inevitably, they heard Mom's heavy footsteps thudding up the stairs. Everyone scrambled, but there was no time to hide Baby, who was right in the middle of the floor, sitting up and clapping at the show.

"What's going on in here!" Mom yelled. She opened the door and the dog and cat streaked out past her ankles.

"Muffin! Buster! For heaven's sake! Be quiet. You'll wake Molly!" Mom shut the door without bothering to look inside and her voice trailed off down the stairs after the pets.

"I'm getting too old for this!" Mr. Potatohead groused, wiping his forehead.

"Now you be a good girl, Molly," Andy's Mom said from outside the bedroom door. "I'm just going to clean up Andy's room while I have the chance. You stay here and play with your toys."

All the toys in Andy's room scrambled for their positions, all but Baby. The doll continued crawling toward the door oblivious to the hissed warnings of Rex and Slinky. The vacuum cleaner started up in the hallway outside and the door creaked open.

Mom took one last look around the cleaned bedroom, put up her duster extension, shut off the light and closed the door. In the corner Rex sneezed. "My allergies," he said in a high squeaky voice. "The vacuum always sets them off." He waved his scrawny arms at the dust floating in the air.

"Yeah, well, just be happy you don't have any accessories to get sucked up in it," Mr. Potatohead said. "I never would have got my nose back if it wasn't for Buzz and Woody." He straightened his nose affectionately, there was a nick on the side of it from the vacuum cleaner.

"I can't believe you would do this!"

Rex, Slink, and Mr. Potatohead all turned in astonishment to hear Bo yelling. Bo-Peep, Mrs. Potatohead, and Jessie were standing at the foot of Andy's bed, where Baby was sitting with Jessie's tiny cowboy hat on her head, hog-tied round and round to the leg of the bed like a cowboy at the stake.

"How could you do this to a mere baby!" Mrs. Potatohead yelled, her plastic turning ruddy with agitation. "There there, sweet one, we'll have you out of this in no time." She continued heaping vituperation on Jessie as she worked at undoing the knots. Jessie moved forward to help, but Bo blocked her way.

"Oh no," Bo said. "You have no business anywhere near a baby if you think this is acceptable behavior!"

"But I was only..,"

"I don't care what you 'were only.' I know you are used to rougher play, and we've tried to overlook it until now, but this is unconscionable. You should be put in storage for this!"

Jessie froze as if she'd been slapped.

The other toys gasped.. Rex covered his mouth with his hands, his eyes wide.

"Please, I was just trying to help," Jessie said softly, stepping forward beseechingly.

Bo blocked her way with her staff. Mrs. Potatohead turned around as she finally got the knot loose. "We've had quite enough of your help. If you can't be trusted to behave responsibly then you have no business near a baby. Now go away, get on with you. Shoo!"

Jessie stared, stricken, as Bo shepherded her away with her crook. "You stay away from her from now on." Bo gave Jessie a dark look and turned, giving her her back, and turned to help Mrs. Potatohead finish freeing Baby.

Late that evening, Woody and Buzz climbed back in the window to find the bedroom unnaturally silent. The toys were scattered around the room, each one sitting alone, in an attitude of guilty despair. The only noise came from Baby, who was sitting on her blanket in the center of the room, wailing pitifully. Bo and Mrs. Potatohead were trying to calm her down but she was having none of it.

Ham looked up silently when they clambered inside.

"What happened here?" Woody and Buzz asked at the same time.

Ham looked at them miserably. "Jessie's gone."

Jessie sat in the bushes outside the house, (iii) bareheaded she doodled in the dirt with a stick, the very picture of dejection. The picture she traced in the dirt was a picture of Woody and Buzz and herself, standing in a comradely group. She stared at it for a long time, then slowly she drew a slash between herself and the others. Looking miserably up at the house, she stared longingly at Andy's window. Then she looked off down the long lonely street.

"I can't believe you'd say something like that to Jessie! You know how she feels about storage!" Woody railed.

"Really Miss Peep, Mrs. Potatohead, that was badly done of you. Besides, I'm sure Jessie didn't mean any harm," Buzz said.

"Of course not!" Rex protested. "She was only keeping Baby from crawling out into the hallway and being seen!"

Ma and Peep gasped.

"You mean..." Buzz began.

"Oh no!" Bo-Peep wailed. She turned and buried her face in Woody's shoulder.

Ma sagged against her husband, a stricken look on her face. "We didn't know!" she protested.

"Oh Woody! She's a hero! And I treated her so badly!"

"There there, Bo. I'm sure we can work this out. Mrs. Potatohead did you see which way she went?" Mrs. Potatohead shook her head woefully. "Ham? Slink? Rex? Anybody?"

There was a clattering and a wheezing. The binoculars jumped up on the windowsill and looked out then back like a dog pointing.

"Lenny?" Woody asked as he climbed up onto the bed and from there to the table and the window, Buzz climbed up the table leg.

Lenny looked off into the night.

"How are we ever going to find her out there?" Bo said in despair as Buzz helped her up on to the tabletop.

Slink, still on the floor, suggested, "Maybe Buster could sniff her out."

Woody looked up with excitement. "Slink, that's a wonderful idea! Now, where can we find something of Jessie's for him to smell?"

Buzz jumped off the table, moonwalked across the bed and sleekly jumped down the crack between the bed and the wall. He emerged from under the bed a second later twirling Jessie's hat, the one she'd left on Baby's head.

"Will this do?"

"Buzz, you're a genius!"

"I know."

Jessie sloped morosely down the sidewalk in the dark. It was a dark lonely night, the houses all asleep, the only light coming from the stars above. She walked with her head down, her hands shoved deep into her pockets behind her chaps. Her red, yarn braid dangled down her side in despair.

She didn't know where she was going, but she couldn't stay where she wasn't wanted. And she certainly wasn't going to let anyone put her back into storage. She'd had all of that she could stand in one lifetime. And she'd only just found a new family. She'd thought she was fitting in so well. She remembered Buzz's blushing face as he complimented her for the first time. Bullseye's goofy grin as he'd showed her his hooves with their new markings, accidentally showing "Dany" instead of "Andy." She remembered Bo and Mrs. Potatohead trying to show her how to crochet with Andy's mom's discarded needles and yarn, and Rex wearing the resulting sweater which actually fit his tiny arms and big tail, so long as he wore it upside down. She remembered playing croquette with Slink and Robot, Slink being the hoops. And she remembered Andy and Molly playing with them in the back yard, her and Woody and Buzz. Happy as only a beloved toy can be.

All over now.

Jessie looked up with a start as the bushes at the side of the sidewalk rustled. She braced herself, and backed up a step.

And out stepped three toys.

"Is it safe for you to be out here all alone, my dear?"

Jessie stared at the oldest toy she'd ever seen. It was a Raggedy Ann, or more properly a Raggedy Gran, her red yarn hair was faded nearly to gray, the red stripes on her socks washed one too many times, and the pocket and bib of her apron were trimmed with old lace. Jessie stared. Behind the gentle, porcelain-faced old matriarch (iiii) stood two toys, like bodyguards, a transformer, and a stretch monster.

"What are you doing out? And at this hour?" Gran asked.

Jessie instinctively tried to straighten her hair and put on her most polite manner.

"I'm running away from home," she finally admitted in a quiet voice.

The elderly toy looked around at the deserted street. "But where is your child?"

Jessie blinked at her.

"You mean you're running away all by yourself?" she asked in hushed disbelief. Then her face turned sympathetic. "Is your child cruel to you?"

"NO!" Jessie said in immediate defense. "Andy and Molly are wonderful children! Why, when Andy accidentally ripped Woody's arm he sewed it back together all by himself! They would never hurt me!"

"Then why are you running away?"

Jessie bowed her head and scrubbed her boot on the sidewalk. "I was only trying to help!" She finally burst out, almost crying, "But they said I was too rough. They said I should be put into storage. I won't go into storage again! Not ever! I'll run away first!"

Raggedy Gran put her arm around the younger doll. "It's okay, young one. I'm sure they didn't mean it. Besides, storage isn't anything to be afraid of. Look at me. I've been put in storage many times. But then there's always a new child who needs a toy to love. Storage is just a time to rest, to store up more love."

"No it isn't," Jessie protested. "Storage is where they put you when they don't love you any more." She grew quiet and heartbreakingly pensive. "That's what Emily did. She put me in a box and just drove away." Jessie started crying. Raggedy Gran provided the shoulder to cry on. "She didn't even look back," Jessie whispered.

"There, there, sweet one." Raggedy Gran crooned. She pulled back and made Jessie look up at her. "Are you sure Emily abandoned you?" Jessie nodded. "Are you truly sure? Or did she give you away so another child could have you to love? A poor child with no doll of her own, who would love you just as much as she did?"

Jessie looked up in dawning, hopeful comprehension.

Raggedy Gran nodded. "That's the way it is with us. Beloved toys are not abandoned, they are passed on."

"Like Woody," Jessie said with a look of sudden, awed epiphany. With a happy cry she fell on Raggedy Gran in a grateful hug. Gran smiled and hugged her back.

"Now," Gran said, suddenly businesslike. "We'll take you home. Maybe you can help us. We're looking for a lost baby doll..."

"Baby? You're looking for Baby?" Jessie asked excitedly.

Transformer and Stretch monster perked up. "You've seen her?" Stretch monster asked in his gravely voice.

"She fell out of our car while we were visiting our children's Grandmother near here, we've been searching for her ever since," Transformer said excitedly.

"Yes! Come on!" She grabbed Raggedy Gran's arm and started running, hauling her toward Andy's house.

But before she'd gone two steps, Buzz and Woody came galloping up, Woody on Buster and Buzz on Bullseye. Bullseye promptly licked her face. Woody was so excited he jumped off Buster and stumbled and hugged her. "Jessie! We were so worried." Woody hugged her then stepped back and shook her by the shoulders. "Why did you run away like that?"

"I thought it was best," Jessie said softly, laying no blame.

"Best?!" Woody cried. "But, we're your family!" (xx song)

Buzz solemnly gave her back her hat which he'd been carefully carrying.

"Who are they?" Buzz finally asked, nodding at Raggedy Gran, Transformer, and Stretch Monster, who'd been patiently standing aside during this reunion.

Jessie beamed. "I found Baby's family!"

Buzz, Woody, and Jessie returned to Andy's house, Buster went in through the dog door but Buzz climbed up the drainpipe and lowered the butterfly net for Raggedy Gran. Bullseye rode up with her, and Stretch and Transformer went along as guards. Woody and Jessie climbed up the drainpipe. But when they got to the top, the bedroom was in an uproar.

"What happened?" Woody exclaimed. Ma Potatohead was crying on her husband's shoulder. Rex was wringing his hands and babbling. And Bo looked as if she'd been through a wringer.

Mr. Potatohead answered as he patted the Mrs.'s back. "Molly found Baby."

"She followed Muffin in here and saw Baby before we could hide her. She took the doll back to her room with her," Bo said.

"We'll never get her back!" Slinky moaned.

"Now don't be so pessimistic, Slink."

"But Woody, once Andy's mom sees the doll it'll be too late."

"Has she seen her yet?" Buzz said with a sudden air of excitement.

"No," Bo answered. "Molly just got up to get a glass of water. She followed Muffin in here, saw Baby before we could hide her and went straight back to bed, taking Baby with her."

"So there's still a chance," Raggedy Gran said with calm conviction.

"Who's this?" Slink asked.

"Folks, this is Baby's family. Jessie found them," Woody said proudly.

"Well, strictly speaking we found her. Hello." Raggedy Gran introduced herself and held out her hand like a true grand dame. Slinky showed his gentlemanly side and kissed it. She introduced her two friends. "We saw your notice on the computer."

"That was my idea," Rex said proudly.

"That was good thinking," Raggedy Gran said with soft, genteel dignity. "We'd looked everywhere. We'd almost given up hope when we saw your ad."

"How did Baby end up in an alley?" Bo said in a protective tone, stepping forward.

Transformer hung his head. "My boy accidentally knocked Baby out of the convertible when we left his grandmother's house. He didn't notice and I didn't have the chance to tell anyone until it was too late."

"Well, why didn't you just come back to get her later?" Mr. Potatohead asked.

"We did," answered Stretch monster in his gravely voice. "But her house is three blocks away."

"Then how did Baby end up in our alley?" Rex asked in a high, anxious voice.

Buzz, Woody and Jessie all looked at each other. "Buster," they said in unison.

"Buster?" Raggedy Gran asked.

"Our dog," Woody explained. "He was gone all afternoon."

"He must have found her and brought her here," Buzz explained.

"To us," Bo said in wonder.

"Yes," Jessie confirmed. "Buster would know that we would take care of a lost toy."

Just then the door nosed open and Buster stuck his head into the room.

Jessie jumped down from the tabletop and sprinted over to him. She threw her arms around the dog and hugged him. "Good boy, Buster!" All the other toys crowded around to congratulate him. The dog preened.

"That explains why we couldn't find any clues from any of the other toys around here!" Buzz exclaimed.

"Because she wasn't from around here," Woody finished.

"That's what I said!" Rex congratulated himself.

"And you were right," Buzz agreed. "Now, our problem is, how do we get Baby away from Molly."

They slowly eased open Molly's door. Buzz, Woody and Jessie peeked inside, one head stacked upon another.

Molly was asleep in her bed, a small lump under the blankets, Muffin curled up at her knees and one pudgy arm wrapped around Baby.

Jessie, Buzz, and Woody eased back out into the hallway where the rest of the toys were assembled. Slink stood down the hallway waiting for Woody's signal. Woody waved his hat.

Slink and Stretch tiptoed into Mom's room and carefully placed a set of Walkman earphones around the sleeping woman's head. Meanwhile, Rex and Transformer backed out of the hall closet and ran to join the others. Slink came out of Mom's door and gave Woody the thumbs up.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ham asked doubtfully as they all stood waiting in the hall outside Molly's room.

"Can Molly talk yet?" Gran asked.

"No, not really."

"Then there's a loophole. As long as she's still too young to tell anyone she's seen us moving we're okay."

"I never heard that before. Are you sure?"

Raggedy Gran smiled in a maternal fashion. "Trust me. I've been around a long time."

"Right. She's asleep," Woody said.

Buzz, Woody and Jessie tiptoed into the bedroom. Rex followed carrying a feather they'd stolen from the feather duster in the hall closet. With much heaving and hoeing, and help from Strongman and Robot, Buzz and Woody managed to heave Rex up onto the bed behind Molly.

Jessie, Bo-Peep and Mrs. Potatohead stood on the other side of the bed on the floor below Baby.

Raggedy Gran, Stretch, and Transformer stood just inside the doorway, ready to take over care of Baby, but staying out of the way while the local toys dealt with their child.

Rex tiptoed across the blanket and tickled Molly's ear with the feather. Everyone held their breaths but nothing happened. Rex tickled Molly's ear again and the sleepy child swatted at it, waving it away without waking, her arm fell instantly back around Baby.

Rex looked down over the side of the bed and shrugged helplessly.

"Try again Rex!" Woody yelled up in a whisper. Rex tickled Molly's ear again and this time she rolled over - knocking Rex to the floor in a high flying arch but leaving Baby free.

Jessie slowly chinned her head up over the side of the mattress. Baby turned big eyes to her and Jessie grinned and put one finger to her lips. Baby grinned.

Muffin woke up as Baby's weight rolled off the bed. The kitten pounced on her mistress, waking her up. And the chase was on.

Molly scrambled out of bed, her little baby legs stretching to reach the floor, even as Muffin, always in service to her mistress, jumped down and tried to intercept Baby.

Jessie and Bo tossed Baby to the waiting toy soldiers, who hurried her off, carrying her like an army of ants with a watermelon. Jessie, Bo and Mrs. Potatohead, along with her three adopted alien sons, turned to confront and stop Muffin. The kitten simply leapt over them and Molly dashed through them without even noticing they were moving.

Buzz and Woody, along with a tottering, just-righted, Rex came tearing around the side of the bed. The toy soldiers, with Baby, disappeared around the corner of Molly's door. "This way men!" Molly toddled after them determined to retrieve her doll.

Seeing that Muffin was going to be the greatest threat, Woody jumped on Bullseye and took off after the kitten. With a shrill whistle Buzz leapt on Buster and together the two of them started trying to coral the cat.

Muffin screeched and scrambled around the door frame into the hall. She sideswiped Ham and Mr. Potatohead sending them jingling and clattering down the stairs. Rex ran to help, tripped, and screamed as he cartwheeled after them.

Muffin made to leap on the army men, but Buzz and Woody came galloping out and cut her off. She leapt to get around them but Woody lassoed her and caught her back paw, she fell but kicked it off. Faced with being tied up she shied away.

Meanwhile, Molly was hot on the trail of the toy soldiers, who were carrying Baby down the hallway, dodging as a unit as Baby giggled atop them. Molly reached out to snatch up the doll. Stretch stretched his tentacle arm across the hall from door to banister and tripped her. Raggedy Gran quickly threw herself down in front of the child to cushion her fall. The toy soldiers dodged.

Cut off from the sanctuary of Andy's room by Molly, Sarge yelled, "Downstairs! The dog door!" The whole troop reversed course and double-timed it down the stairs. In an instant Molly was up and following them.

Muffin, streaking down the stairs chased by Buzz and Woody, heard the soldiers coming. Rex, Ham, and Potatohead saw her and set up a cordon at the bottom. Seeing them, Muffin leapt over the last few stairs onto a short bookshelf by the door, she turned and crouched, preparing to ambush Baby and the soldiers. But the shelf continued wobbling under her weight, tilted, and crashed to the floor. Rex, Potatohead, and Ham jumped aside just in time.

Muffin sprang off and Buzz and Woody chased her into the living room. "We've got to keep her away from Baby!" Buzz yelled.

Woody saw the other toys and yelled, "Find something to tie her up with!" His attention snapped back to Muffin as Bullseye pivoted left, like a good cutting horse, and cut her off from the stairs, where the soldiers were trying to get around the bookcase to the dog door.

Muffin hissed and arched her back, she leapt over Woody, but Buster leapt and bodyblocked her. Barking, the dog began chasing her around the room.

"Hey, Spudman!" Ham pointed with his snout, "That doily on the chair arm!"

Potatohead jumped up on the chair. "Got it."

"Aah!" Rex yelled, waving his arms as he ran ahead of the fleeing kitten, thinking Muffin was after him. He ran for the coffee table. "Help me up! Help me up!" he yelled, as he reached frantically with his scrawny arms.

"Good idea!" Ham said as he tossed Rex up with his snout.

Potatohead ran over, the doily waving like a banner from his hand, and swung up onto the table. Ham grabbed the other end of the doily and they stretched it out between them.

"Hey Woody. Over here!" Ham yelled.

Buzz, Buster, Woody and Bullseye, who'd been chasing the kitten around the room, herded Muffin to the edge of the table. But instead of going under the table, Muffin tried to jump up onto it. Rex stood in her way, and for the first time in his life, and due in great part to his lessons from Buzz, he finally roared out a frightening roar, which startled Muffin just enough to make her twist in midair, hesitate, and gave Ham and Potatohead the chance to throw the doily like a net, which struck her in midair and downed her like a lion on the hunt.

Upstairs, Jessie ran to Raggedy Gran who was knee-dented in the middle but struggling to push herself up, her graying red hair askew. "Are you all right?" Jessie, asked in concern, panting from her frantic run as she solicitously helped the older toy up. Gran lifted herself to her feet and dusted herself off. "That's hardly the first time a child has landed on me. Let's go!"

They heard the crash and commotion from downstairs and jumped. Gran saw Molly heading for the stairs and, concerned, yelled. "Stop her! Don't let her go downstairs!"

Transformer jumped up, somersaulted, ducked his head, tucked his arms in, and landed as a car! He span his wheels and raced after Molly, cutting in front of her, trying to stop her, and accidentally tripped her down the stairs.

All the toys gasped in horror as she shrieked and began to somersault down the stairs. Stretch, who not a moment ago had tripped her himself, stretched his tentacles and swung up and over the banister and down the stairwell like Tarzan. He stretched himself, arms and legs splayed quickly across the staircase, and managed to stop Molly's fall. But Molly's involuntary cry woke Mom.

"What's going on out there!" She got up, not noticing the headphones falling off her, which Slink quickly retrieved once Mom was out of the room. All the toys, hearing the adult, scrambled frantically to find hiding places.

Mom found Molly on the staircase and Muffin tangled in a doily in the living room and drew her own conclusions. On her way to take Molly back to bed she found the toys scattered in their various hiding places, as if they'd been stashed there by children who didn't want to take the time to put them away properly.

"You shouldn't be up playing with Andy's toys in the middle of the night," Mom admonished Molly as she took her back to bed.

Once Molly was tucked in, Mom emptied the laundry basket that had been sitting by the door, and started going down the hallway and stairway and living room collecting toys. When she wasn't looking, the toys coordinated to usher the toy soldiers and their giggly baby doll back up to Andy's room, since they were blocked from the dog door. They only just managed to stay ahead of Mom and disappeared under the bed with their burden. Mom impatiently dumped all the laundry basket of toys into the toybox before heading sleepily back to bed.

"Would you get your big foot out of my eye!" Potatohead demanded as the toys all tried to untangle and right themselves.

"Oh! Sorry!" said Rex, "Here!" He handed Potatohead's eye back to him from where he had been standing on it, clear at the other end of the toybox.

"Everyone all right?" Woody asked from where he was hanging off the the toybox like a drowning man holding onto an overturned lifeboat. He scrambled up until he was straddling the edge of the toybox like a horse. Bullseye pushed his way to the top and Woody gave him an affectionate scrub on the mane. On the other end of the toybox Jessie scrambled up to straddle the edge.

"Where's Raggedy Gran!" she asked, concerned for the elderly toy's safety. Immediately all the toys in the toybox begin gingerly, and guiltily, searching under their feet. Buzz climbed up to the center of the back ledge, formed by the open lid of the toybox. "Dig deep men, they've got to be in here somewhere!" he said as they all started to panic, certain that their guests had been crushed or worse.

Suddenly there was a sharp bark from the doorway, and everyone turned to see Buster trotting cockily into the room with Raggedy Gran perched sidesaddle on his back as regal as a queen. Transformer and Stretch Monster marched at her sides.

"Good work, Buster!" Buzz congratulated heartily.

"Yes indeed, this clever fellow managed to carry us out of sight before your children's mother could see us. A most intelligent creature," Gran said. Buster preened. Potatohead gallantly helped Gran dismount, by now all the toys had swarmed down out of the toybox eager to see that Baby had gotten here safely.

"Report, Sergeant!" Woody commanded as all the toys gathered around the bottom of the bed. (4)

The blankets peeled back like curtains to reveal the green toy soldiers all standing proudly at parade ground formation. "Mission accomplished!" Saluted the Sarge. All the other soldiers saluted, a couple disappeared unexpectedly, only to reappear a second later as the battalion parted to reveal Baby behind them, cheerfully trying to eat two of her rescuers.

"Baby!" Raggedy Gran, Stretch and Transformer cried out in glad unison rushing forward to hug their long lost toy. Raggedy Gran gently admonished, "No no, Baby. Don't eat the nice soldiers!" While Stretch and Transformer, with loads of practical experience, pried them from her fingers and handed them off to their comrades.

Predawn - early light before everyone wakes up. Jessie, Buzz, Woody and all the others stood on the table looking out the window, the butterfly net rope lax at their feet. Outside, on the sidewalk below, Baby was standing up for the first time. Stretch and Transformer stood on either side ready to catch her. Hesitantly, she took her first wobbly steps toward Raggedy Gran as her family took her home.

"They grow up so fast." Mrs. Potatohead sniffled.

"Good riddance," Mr. Potatohead said. He grunted when Mrs. Potatohead backhanded him in the stomach.

"Well, she's back with her family, where she belongs," Buzz said with the satisfaction of a job well done.

"Where we all belong," Woody said, putting an arm around Jessie's shoulders and giving her a squeeze. Buzz smiled at her.

The sun drifted quickly higher in the sky as day drew on. Jessie stood staring out the window while the toys' normal daily routine reasserted itself behind her.

Baby and her family were long gone, but Jessie kept looking. Buzz walked up behind her. "We would never have put you in storage, you know," he said quietly to her.

Jessie didn't turn around, but she was calm, at peace. "I know. I'm not even scared anymore." She turned and smiled warmly at Buzz. He perked up. "I've learned that storage is just the place you go to rest up. To store up love for the next time." She smiled mystically and turned back to the window, leaning on the edge. "I miss Baby," she said wistfully.

A car pulled up into the driveway below. A boy jumped energetically out, whooping in the early morning calm.

"Hey everybody!" Buzz yelled. "Andy's home!"

All the toys looked up.

"What's that Grandma's carrying?" Jessie asked, leaning out the window as Grandma, carrying a covered basket, disappeared under the porch overhang.

Woody, Buzz and the rest herded out to look down through the banister at the entryway below, where Grandma, Mom and Andy were saying hello.

"Look Molly," Andy said with excitement. "Grandma's brought you a present!"

All the toys leaned out eagerly.

Grandma stooped down and pulled back the cover on the basket. Molly squealed and jumped up and down.

"What is it?!" Rex demanded. "I can't see!"

Jessie grinned hugely. Mrs. Potatohead and Bo smiled and nodded to each other. Woody and Buzz blanched.

Below, Molly's head moved out of the way to reveal the contents of the basket.

"It's a baby doll," Mr. Potatohead said with a voice of doom. Rex looked back downstairs where two cute, curly-haired baby dolls lay curled together in the bottom of the basket. "Twins!" he said glumly.

THE END

Footnotes:

(i) a horsehead nebula, or in this case a beautifully subtle "Bullseye" head nebula.

(ii) which sounded suspiciously like a deeper, adult version of Andy's voice.

(iii) and his foot out of his ear

(v v) said in the way a human would say "She's only a baby!" Baby is not only a doll but a new one, having all of the characteristics of an infant, unlike an old baby doll which would act like an adult when unobserved.

(v) tied so that it would rise level, forming a hammock of the net for Baby to ride in.

(ii) Jessie is perched on the doorknob, her lasso is looped around the doorknob, then around the catchplate on the jamb. As she pulled on the end of her lasso it pulled the door shut.

(iii) a good place for a sad song about wanting to belong.

(iiii) this is a collector's edition, porcelain faced doll (to make expressions easier) with china face and hands but all other trimmings identical to a Raggedy Ann, in fact, she looks a lot like an older, more serene version of Jessie.

(xx) . "You are my family" song:

You're more than a friend to me  
You're part of my family  
We're more together than we are apart  
And you're a big part of this family's heart  
It doesn't matter that we're different  
that's the way we are  
because we are a family!

We are a family,  
him, them, and you and me  
When the road lies rough ahead  
When we're miles and miles from our  
nice warm bed  
It doesn't matter what anyone said  
Because we are a family!  
We are a family!

Author's Chapter Notes:

This is a little story that takes place during the end credits, like the bloopers in the original movies.

Ham has lost one of Andy's Dollars and spends the whole movie looking for it, in the background. The scenes where this takes place in the story are marked by numbers in parenthesis.

Ham's Dollar

**Scene 1**  
(First night, while everyone is getting Baby bedded down.)

Ham is frantically rummaging around in the bottom of the bookshelf, looking through all the books and games, under the shelf, under the table.

SLINKY  
Whatcha lookin for, buddy?

Ham jumps and spins guiltily, his eyes darting around to see if anyone else has noticed.

HAM  
(distressed)  
Slink. It's a disaster! I've lost one of Andy's dollars. I'm a bank!  
I can't just go around losing people's money! You gotta help me find it!

SLINK  
Why don't you just replace it with Monopoly money?

HAM  
(aghast)  
What?! What if he tried to spend it? I'd be guilty  
of counterfeiting!

**Scene 2**  
(During closetlanche rescue)

SLINK  
(yells)  
Hey Ham!

Slink is digging excitedly through the debris pile. Ham eagerly trots up over the crest of the avalanche hill.

HAM  
(eagerly)  
Did you find it?!

Slink stood up pulling something out of the dirt in each hand.

SLINK  
Yeah. Here! It's...

He stopped and turned, holding up a pair of moldy green socks, the exact color of a dollar bill.

SLINK  
(shrugs, embarrassed)  
Well, at least it's green.

HAM  
(resigned)  
Keep looking.

**Scene 3**  
(During the bouncy ball barrage)

The bouncy ball barrage is going on all around them. There is the sound of things breaking and the whiz of the ball overhead. Suddenly the ball shoots right over Ham. He yelps and dives for cover behind an upturned book.

He looks up from his splayed position on the ground to see Slinky sitting in the cover of the book flipping pages.

HAM  
What are you doing?

SLINK  
Looking for your dollar. I got to thinking, Andy may have  
stuck his dollar into the pages of a book for safekeeping.

Ham rolled his eyes.

HAM  
(exasperated)  
Andy stuck his dollar in me for safekeeping!  
That's why we're looking, remember?

SLINK  
Oh, well this is a good story anyway. It's all  
about a fish who...

**Scene 4**  
(While everyone is watching Baby's family reunion)

Slink popped up out of the toychest waving Jessie's red hat.

SLINK  
I found it!

HAM  
(distracted)  
Found what?

SLINK  
Your dollar!

HAM  
(shocked)  
What!

Slink reached up and pulled on a green corner that was protruding from the inside rim of Jessie's hat. Ham's dollar unfolded down out of it like a magician's trick. Ham stared gapemouthed.

**Scene 5**

HAM  
(to Jessie)  
You had it all this time?!

JESSIE  
(surprised)  
Is it important? I found it when we were out  
playing rodeo.

Ham stared at her, dumbfounded.

JESSIE  
(doubtfully)  
You mean it isn't Monopoly money?

Ham just stared at her.

HAM  
Oh, never mind.

He reached up and tried to put the folded dollar bill in his slot, but he couldn't reach. Jessie was called away by Woody, and Ham watched helplessly as she walked away.

SLINK  
Here, let me.

Slink takes the dollar bill and unfolds it, pressing it flat with his front feet. He folds it and presses it, folds it and presses it. Finally, he holds up a perfectly folded, dollar bill airplane.  
He sites along Ham's back and throws it. It flies right over Ham's back, loops up and dives down into Ham's slot, slick as a whistle.

HAM  
Show off!

And the show goes off.

Notes:

Hints of the dollar can be seen all through the movie: when Jessie looks up at the closetlanche, when she catches the bouncy ball in her hat, when Buzz finds her hat for Buster to smell, ect. All subtle clues that may not be noticed the first time, but that people will want to go back to see.

Also, all the previous scenes, with the exception of the first and last, take place in the background of another scene in the movie. It isn't until they are seen close up in the bloopers that people realize what is going on. Yet another thing that they'll want to go back and check out.

This would also make a great promotional gimmick for merchandising and for promoting the movie. Finding Ham's Dollar in a sponsored product to win a prize, internet games, ect.

The last scene between Ham and Slinky is intended to be the last blooper, so that when Ham says "Show off!" the show goes off.

I've inserted the scene numbers 2-4 into the manuscript where those scenes take place in the background.


End file.
